These Lines
by dear octopus
Summary: After Eduardo sues his best friend Mark for the Facebook scandal, he is stumbling drunk through the streets and his drunken path leads him to Mark. The Social Network. Mark/Eduardo.


The street lamps glared angrily at him as he stumbled down the street. A gust of wind kissed his frame, it was so cold but his skin was so heated. All that rage boiling inside of him had made him abnormally hot in the frost. Alcohol marinated the insides of his intestines, weighed down his stomach and jumbled his fleeting thoughts. It really wasn't his way but things had changed so drastically that he couldn't resist the comfort that that bottle of whiskey had whispered to him.

His path is truly undetermined, his feet carrying the weight of his body blindly. He's not controlling it, it's controlling him. If the liquor hadn't diluted his senses then perhaps he would have an idea of where his feet were taking him. However, he paid no attention, instead his brown eyes burrowed deep into the horizon, though he wasn't looking at the dark silhouette of sorority houses. His eyes were beyond seeing the world that he was only physically in. Mentally, he was elsewhere. Mentally, he was cursing every thing that had happened to him. All that he had lost.

He should've known better, not to leave him alone, especially not with that predatory man, Sean, who only wanted to feed off his best friend's success. Best friend. Eduardo's eyes glowered at the face that came to mind. Mark. While others had shied away from the socially awkward guy, Mark had salvaged and refined from the curly haired mess his most treasured possession- a friendship. It had taken some time, sure, but the instant click couldn't be denied. They understood each other and sometimes, especially around others, it was as if they were speaking a language of their own. No one could decipher the other as well as they could. But now? He had been left behind by the only person that he had ever felt closest to.

He had thought that Mark was the weaker one of the two. That Mark needed him, depended on Eduardo as his only confidant, his only friend. He thought that Mark was always the lonely one without Eduardo's presence. Never mind Mark's ex-girlfriend. She was nice, sure, but she couldn't read the guarded boy. She couldn't seem to spot the caring gestures wrapped in a veil of indifference. Eduardo would always lightly smile when stinging words fell from Mark's lips. Mark had never been able to understand that, but it had become some strange kind of routine between the two...

Eduardo's smile had always been pleasant, no matter the mood that played in those expressive eyes. Even his saddest smile was charming. Not that Mark cared. He lowered pale blue eyes from the moon that hung low in the sky to a street lamp. He still couldn't understand why Eduardo had done what he had done. Hell, Mark had practically given it to him. He wished he could see one of those smiles now. It had almost been like sharing a hug or perhaps a kiss, though the two weren't like that, it's just an example, doesn't mean any thing... But the two shared the routine often- when they were feeling playful, when they were down and sometimes for no reason at all. Maybe this was just like that. Mark had done some thing to potentially harm Eduardo and Eduardo would, frustratingly enough, smile at Mark in turn.

But it had been days since he had heard from Eduardo and he was definitely not going to- "Zuckerberg!" he heard an angered voice call. He had heard a lot of those lately but this voice he knew. This voice he knew better than a keyboard which his fingers were so deftly tuned to. And there! The stumbling form, he knew that too, Eduardo. But Eduardo had not yet spotted him in his drunken stupor. A faint smile flickered on Mark's lips from elation before he remembered that the two were no longer on good terms. He turned about to go back inside and act as if he wasn't home, but then Eduardo had called his name again and he could tell by his tone that he had seen him.

Mark slowly turned back around, swallowing hard at facing the man who was not only filled with a rage that Mark had never seen before, but drunkard as well. They caught eyes and Mark's breath hitched, his heart beating away in his throat. A moment of silence passed before Eduardo moved, climbing up the escape ladder that was in case of emergency. It couldn't very well be used if the emergency was using the escape ladder as a means of reaching Mark. "Shit, shit, shit," were Mark's only comprehensive thoughts. What would Mark say? Nothing could possibly defuse the situation and now, after Eduardo had pulled the unthinkable, Mark was confused on even where exactly Eduardo's feelings lay.

But Eduardo had made his way up and Mark had dwindled for too long on what had happened rather than plotting out the right thing to say. The thing that would get him out of the trouble he was in. So when Eduarado stood face to face with Mark, he got only a blank expression and a desperate question from Mark, "Why?"

"Why?" Eduardo demanded. He then froze, having heard the same word slip from between Mark's pink lips. Eduardo's brows furrowed, his eyes, which had formerly been burying themselves past Mark's eyes and into his soul, glanced away. His jaw line hardened as he clenched his teeth. "I don't need your money, I don't need your company and I sure as Hell don't need your friendship," Eduardo hissed as tamely as he could. Mark stood still, those words clawing at his chest. Eduardo had won the court case. He could have taken every thing. But he didn't, instead he took nothing and that fact had anchored under Mark's skin. Why hadn't he taken it in revenge? Why? That word haunted Mark every night since he had been told Mark didn't want any thing to do with the website or the website's profits. The press had been told that Mark had won the case but what exactly he had won would not be disclosed to the public.

"You could've had every thing," Mark mumbled, shifting uncomfortably under Eduardo's harsh gaze, "But instead you took nothing. Didn't you want fortune? And what about vengeance? I know you hated me after-"

"You know nothing," Eduardo assured him in a harsh whisper, "You're so oblivious to the world Mark. One day, you're going to wake up and you're going to realize that the only thing you wanted in the first place, you threw away. And for what? For money? Fame? Well, I'll tell you what. That leech of a man Sean is going to suck you dry and you're never going to find in him what you found in me. But I just want to know why? Why did you betray your only friend?"

Mark couldn't breathe. He had never been told the truth so harshly, so it took a moment to sink in. "I..." he stammered, trying to make sense of the words scrambled in his head. From here, he could smell the alcohol stain Eduardo's breath. He felt as though the scent was making him drunk too. "Look," he finally muttered, "You've been drinking, so you're clearly not in the right mind right now."

Eduardo's eyes narrowed dangerously on Mark. "You're a coward, Mark," he spat, "You were afraid that I was getting too close to you, so you had to do some thing to distance me, huh? You're so paranoid of being alone that you never allow yourself to be vulnerable to others, so that you'll never hurt. But look at you. You're quarantining yourself, you're as lonely as you'll ever be and you can't bullshit me. It hurts." He let that sink in to Mark's head before continuing, "But I'm not leaving. Despite how hard you try to push me away, it's only because you want me closer. You're just too much of a coward to let me get closer. But I'm done giving you the choice, Mark. You're mine and I swear to God, you try to cut me loose from your life again, I will open you up and take that damned heart of yours by force and you won't be able to resist when your heart's beating in my hands."

Complete shock locked Mark's thoughts up. What was Eduardo saying? What the Hell did he mean? How did he know? He had called his bluff and left him desperately defenseless. Mark had no way of making a rebuttal, no way of recovering from that blow. He felt as if the cold wind would shove him right off the balcony. He was so vulnerable. The demons that lurked within the depths of his mind and haunted him every night began to terrorize Mark now. He needed some thing to hold on to. Some thing to protect him from himself and the world around him. He pushed forward, thrusting himself into Eduardo's arms, his hands grasping at Eduardo's windbreaker for dear life. Mark nuzzled his face into Eduardo's chest, depending on his warmth, the safety that embrace assured him, the adoration that filled him. "Don't..." Mark couldn't finish, but Eduardo knew what Mark meant. Don't ever let his heart go.

Eduardo entangled his fingers in Mark's unruly curls, "I won't," Eduardo promised, pulling back ever so slightly to look into Mark's eyes. The fire in Eduardo's brown orbs had calmed and the fear in Mark's had drained, now all that remained was mutual understanding. And love. Eduardo leaned in, his lips a hair's breadth apart from Mark's, the tension like electricity sparking between the two before he finally closed the gap, pressing his lips against Mark's, sealing the deal. When he pulled back from the kiss, a faint smile played on his lips and in that moment, Mark knew that he would never be alone again.


End file.
